Stop the Homework Battle

This is Emily from Huntington Learning Center in East Boise here to share with you our top five tips for stopping the homework battle. So I know a lot of you parents struggle every night when your student comes home from school with mountains of homework and no end in sight. It's really important to establish a routine and get some simple rules under your belt to make that homework time much more effective and easier for you and for your family.

So to start off, the very first tip here is to designate a study space. This is not your student's bed or the floor. This is the actual space that is dedicated specifically to studying and to homework. This could be a desk in their room, maybe a kitchen counter, or a spot in the living room, whatever, going to work best in and help them to limit distractions.

Within that realm, make sure that study space is stocked with all of the materials that they might need. Pens, pencils, granola bars. We all know students who will use any excuse to get up from their desks and go find something else to grab. So having everything within reach is going to really effectively make that time go much smoother and also cut down on the time that they're spending at that desk doing homework.

Tip number two is to have them create a to-do list. Once that study space is designated, have a to-do list every single day of what they need to do. Obviously make it with priority in mind so assignments that are due the next day, take precedence, make sure that everything is completed and then working through from there.

That also mitigates the 10:00 PM panic of I have an assignment due in the morning and I haven't done it. So as long as they have that to-do list, they can see clearly and concisely in front of them what needs to be done today. And it gives them a much more goal-oriented approach to homework.

At that same time set goals in terms of timers. Timers are very important when it comes to homework. Setting a time or for 20 to 30 minutes at most, and allowing your student to put all of their energy in for that short amount of time, really boosts their productivity. After that, give them five minutes of a break, set that kitchen timer again, allow them to check their phone at that time, right? Get on an Instagram, text back their friends.

And then once that five minutes is up, back into work and it's going to be much more effective to not ban technology altogether, but let them know that with that 20 or 30 minutes of work, then comes the reward of 5 minutes. This also helped them to stay motivated and get through all of their work as opposed to viewing it as hours, 20 minutes is much more palatable.

Along with that, make sure you limit distractions. So put that phone in another room if it's necessary, turn off the video games, turn off the TV in the living room, make sure that their focus for that 20 minutes, it's only 20 minutes, is homework. Okay. That's going to be really good for them. And they know that after that time they can check their phone. If you banish it, that's going to lead a fight, which is going to prolong that homework time. And that again is not going to be effective.

Stop the Homework Battle

Last but not least, commit to that routine. As we all know, we start off with really good intentions, especially here in January with resolutions. And then as the weeks go by that routine or that habit really starts to fall away. All of these are necessary to make it effective, but it also takes commitment on your part and on your student's part.

This is not going to happen overnight. You need to sit down with your student, develop a routine that includes them, have them give you their point of view on their homework time, make them take ownership of it. And once you establish that routine, soon they're going to be following these rules without you having to regulate them. And that's going to make it much more enjoyable for you and your family when it comes to homework time.

So in the end, following these five steps and committing to a routine is going to be the biggest piece of success for you and for your homework battle.

Check more of these homework battle tips here: https://www.learningsuccesssystem.com/parenting-tips

It's really important to establish a routine.

Key Takeaways:

1
Have a fully equipped study area
2
Make sure to limit possible distractions.
3
Set specific and attainable goals

No More Homework Battles with Emily Wilson


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